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The name of a place provide its identity. As towns, cities, and metros shift and change, the names used to title them have to change with them. The current Minnesota state capital of Saint Paul was once Pig's Eye, taking its name from a tavern owner well-known in those parts to trappers, fur traders, and soldiers.

Many thinkers, writers and prognosticators looking at the future of urban America have sought new names to describe their research or forecasts. Below is a partial list:

Bajalta California [actual]The combined international urban corridor stretching from Mexico's Baja (lower) California to the United States' Alta (upper) California. The term was coined by a pair of USC professors. The linchpin to the region is the San Diego-Tijuana Metroplex.

BAMA (Boston-Atlanta Metropolitan Axis) [speculative]The term given to the Atlantic coast supercity, aka The Sprawl, that is the setting for parts of William Gibson's Neuromancer. Does not exist yet, but has potential as DC stretches south and the booming Atlanta metro stretches north. The architect turned sci-fi writer foresaw many of today's information technology innovations and is credited with coining the term "cyberspace."

Bosnywash [actual]This chimerical name was coined by Jene Gottman to describe the contiguous archipelago of cities stretching from Boston to Washington, DC. Similar names include: The BosWash and Boshington. The corridor contains a majority of the population of the United States.

San Angeles [speculative]A sonorous name developed by the writers of the action flick Demolition Man to describe the continuous city stretching from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles to San Diego. The primary stumbling block to this becoming a reality is Camp Pendleton, the 125,000-acre Marine base buffering northern San Diego County from both sourthern Orange County and southern Riverside County. If the base is decomission and the land sold, and some experts believe it could be in the next 10 years, San Angeles will quickly emerge.

SanSan [speculative]Created by Jene Gottman to describe a notional conurbation stretching from San Francisco to San Diego. This entity seems unlikely to materialize owing to the coastal topography of California which is broken up in various pockets by mountain ranges.

The Corridor [actual]Refers to the 1,150-kilometer strip of land, stretching from Quebec City to Windsor, containing more than 56% of Canada's population and three of its four largest cities. It's analogous to Bosnywash in terms of concetration of people and resources. GEO

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TexasTriangle focuses on the growing importance of the Texas Triangle - a massive, globally competitive region coalescing around the world-class metros of Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Dallas and Fort Worth.

Mark Druskoff is an award-winning journalist and business writer, who most recently worked for a Big Tex law firm as its marketing content writer. He has an avid interest in innovation and entrepreneurship and their impact on metropolitan and regional economic growth. Not a native Texan, Mark got here as soon as he could. .:.